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10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos
10 Easy Maintenance Tips vs Piling on the Chaos
By Eve Abbott, Excerpted from her new book,
How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain TM
Whether you are in your own business or an employee (or neither) -- if you have a family and a home...
6 Key Reasons Men and Women Cheat on Each Other
Cheating in relationships has been around as long as romantic relationships have existed (give or take seven years.) If you have never cheated yourself, chances are you have at least considered it ... or at the very least you are close to someone...
"Divorce and Children: Things To Consider When You're Staying Married Only For Your Children"
All children are different and respond differently to divorce. Depending on the characteristics of the children - age, emotional maturity, happiness, resiliency to trauma - the easier or more difficult it will be for children to weather a divorce. ...
Stress Reduction Tips for Parents
The best way to reduce your stress is to really know what it IS, that is making you stressed! So sit down for a minute and think about last year. You can look at a calendar to remind yourself of events, or appointments. This may jog your memory,...
The Avoid Debt Secret
Financial talking heads on television and radio try to tell you how to get out of debt, stay out of debt, or what dance steps to use to avoid debt. Just about everything they say is the wrong thing. I don’t mean they are lairs and you should ignore...
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Your Finances
Your Finances
By Terry Rigg
Which category do you fall in?
I have determined that financially, people fall into one of
three categories.
1. Family 1 has all the money they need for necessities and
more and manage it very well.
2. Family 2 has all the money they need for necessities and
more but live payday to payday with ever increasing debt.
3. Family 3 don't have enough money for necessities.
The funny thing about the three families above is that they
could have exactly the same income and family size. This is
not to say that special circumstances has nothing to do with
it, but on the average most people live above their means.
Family 1 has established a workable budget. They don't pay
more than they can afford for housing, transportation,
utilities, etc. They also have money set aside for long and
short term savings. This short term savings provides two
things. First, it makes money available when the car breaks
down, you need a new washer or any number of unexpected
expenses that crop up. Second, it prevents the need to use
credit cards for these items. The savings here could be
hundreds of dollars. Family 1 planned.
Family 2 is still struggling to establish a budget. In many
cases their house payments or rent is much more than they can
afford. They don't take the time to evaluate the money that
could be saved with little effort. Usually there is no short
term savings, let alone short term. They use credit cards as
if they were cash and pay hundreds of dollars in unnessary
finance charges and penalities. These people find themselves
with financial problems that often leads to bankruptcy. Family
2 either didn't plan or may not know how the handle their
finances.
Family 3 has given up on a budget. No matter what they do there
isn't enough money to pay for housing and other necessities.
They struggle to put food on the table. Most don't qualify for
credit cards, which is a good thing. In some cases this
situation is self inflicted and some are due to
circumstances.
What is the answer to these problems?
Family 1 - Leave these people alone unless you plan to ask their
advice.
Family 2 - These are the people that need to seek help and stand
a chance of becoming a family 1 family. The possible solutions
include a debt management company like Consumer Credit Counseling
Service. They need to establish a budget and stick to it. If
their housing and other expenses are too high, then they need to
cut back, even if they have to move. They also need to cut up
the credit cards and think about consolidating. Depending on
how far they are in debt, this could take years.
Family 3 - While their struggle seems useless, there are things
that can be done. First, they need to see to it that everything
is being done to keep expenses down. The electric bill is a
good example. There is federally subsidized housing that only
charges a small fee based on your income. Make sure that they
are receiving all federal and state benefits that they are
entitled. If they are able, they should seek job training or
some other means to make their life a little better.
Which family are you? No matter whether your are family 1, 2
or 3, there is hope. The primary thing that must be done is to
educate everyone that learning to managing their finances is
absolutely for their peace of mind. With the vast amount of
information on the internet providing help, this is possible.
If you are a family 2 or 3 family, "The Complete Budget and Bill
Organizer" http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.html can help.
About the Author
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy
Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor
of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher
web site http://www.homemoneyhelp.com. He has 25 years of
experience counseling individuals and families concerning their
personal finances. Use this email link to get a list of all of
Terry's articles by autoresponder at:
articlelist@budgetstretcherpremium.com
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